Sport KISS or other lightweight rebreather

[bober99]

I'm looking into a rebreather. My prime concerns or compactness/lightweight and ease of maintenance. Saw the Sport KISS and it seems to look pretty good at 40#s. I haven't seen any reviews online. Can someone point a few out to me? Also, any other suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Scubaroo]

There's some threads starting to appear on www.diveoz.com.au and www.thedecostop.com - it's a very new rebreather and is only just starting to be delivered to customers. Try searching for "Travel KISS" as well - that was the name for the prototypes.

 

[caveseeker7]

Saw the Sport KISS and it seems to look pretty good at 40#s. I haven't seen any reviews online. Can someone point a few out to me? Also, any other suggestions?

Ron Micjan has a good teardown articles on his tmi Website of both KISSes as well as the TravelKiss prototype.

My DEMA report for Rebreathers Worldwide gives you another look at it.

If you want something in print, the SportKiss is covered in the current issue of Advanced Diver Magazine . You'll also find some additional UW images from Zero Gravity 4.0 on ADM's website.

My prime concerns or compactness/lightweight and ease of maintenance.

There are also a couple of fairly small and light electronically controlled CCRs.

The (hopefully) soon to be released Evolution is about 2/3 of the hight of the Inspiration and according to APD weights 25 kg/52 lbs. (including the BCD & harness)

The MiniMeg is a small(er scrubber cannister) version of the Megalodon. ISC hasn't published the specs, but I've seen them several times and they are more compact as the aluminum cannister doesn't encase the tanks. This also allows you to choose tanks at your destiantion that wouldn't fit the Evo.

The Prism, while a bit larger than the Evo and MiniMeg, also allows tank choices (some of which won't let you fit the optional cowling) and is probably the lightest weight eCCR at 47 lbs. ready to dive. 6 lbs of that are absorbant (which get the rig its 5 hrs rating versus the MiniMeg/Evo's 2 hrs and the SportKiss' 2.5 hrs), and if you can leave the tanks at home it really travels well.

As you mention simplicity too, none of the eCCRs can beat the SportKiss in that respect, probably the reason 'simple' is part of its name.
That being said, the Prism is as simple as an eCCR can be, the Evo would probably be next, and finally the Meg.

 

[Life-Is-Good-Diver]

Ron Micjan has a good teardown articles on his tmi Website of both KISSes as well as the TravelKiss prototype.

My DEMA report for Rebreathers Worldwide gives you another look at it.

If you want something in print, the SportKiss is covered in the current issue of Advanced Diver Magazine . You'll also find some additional UW images from Zero Gravity 4.0 on ADM's website.


There are also a couple of fairly small and light electronically controlled CCRs.

The (hopefully) soon to be released Evolution is about 2/3 of the hight of the Inspiration and according to APD weights 25 kg/52 lbs. (including the BCD & harness)

The MiniMeg is a small(er scrubber cannister) version of the Megalodon. ISC hasn't published the specs, but I've seen them several times and they are more compact as the aluminum cannister doesn't encase the tanks. This also allows you to choose tanks at your destiantion that wouldn't fit the Evo.

The Prism, while a bit larger than the Evo and MiniMeg, also allows tank choices (some of which won't let you fit the optional cowling) and is probably the lightest weight eCCR at 47 lbs. ready to dive. 6 lbs of that are absorbant (which get the rig its 5 hrs rating versus the MiniMeg/Evo's 2 hrs and the SportKiss' 2.5 hrs), and if you can leave the tanks at home it really travels well.

As you mention simplicity too, none of the eCCRs can beat the SportKiss in that respect, probably the reason 'simple' is part of its name.
That being said, the Prism is as simple as an eCCR can be, the Evo would probably be next, and finally the Meg.

Thanks for posting your dema report, that's a nice unit, the sport kiss, say's it goes for $3,900, is that it for a full CCR set up?

 

[caveseeker7]

Thanks for posting your dema report, that's a nice unit, the sport kiss, say's it goes for $3,900, is that it for a full CCR set up?

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

The lower price doesn't include BCD & tanks/valves as far as I remember. Sensors are included, though. For a complete rig the price is about $500 more. Easy enough to find out, just visit their website.
Jetsam has a brochure and a price list as downloadable pdf files available on their website. It'll have the most up to date info and prices.

 

[Life-Is-Good-Diver]

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

The lower price doesn't include BCD & tanks/valves as far as I remember. Sensors are included, though. For a complete rig the price is about $500 more. Easy enough to find out, just visit their website.
Jetsam has a brochure and a price list as downloadable pdf files available on their website. It'll have the most up to date info and prices.

Stephan, where can i find the spec's on the Sport Kiss unit?

Such as Duration of the scrubber, how much the unit weigh's, more detialed info on the unit, all the spec's, thank's, i love that Sport Kiss!!

 

[caveseeker7]

According to the brochure the alu bodied SportKiss weights 17kg/38lbs, the stainless steel one 20kg/45lbs. That's with tanks, but without BC. So figure another 3kg/7lbs for that.

The scrubber holds 5lbs of absorbant and is rated for 2.5 hrs duration, the entire rebreather is rated for 150ft max. depth.

As to the size I'm not aware Jetsam has published them.
The tanks shown in all the pics I took were 2ltr/13cuft alu tanks. The case is just a bit longer than the tank and valve, say an inch, and about as deep as the tanks are diameter. You can look those sizes up on tank manufactrer's pages like Catalina's.

Sorry about the prices, seems they went up since DEMA. Quite an increase for the Classic KISS, it sold for 4,600 before the name change ... :11:

Funny timing, too, as someone just went off somewhere about how the KISS makes waves, shakes up the RB industry and how prices will come down for other units to compete.
Instead, ISC and SMI have stayed the same, APD's will go up, and KISS prices have gone up.
(At least at APD you get a bit more than a new name )

Better hurry if you want to get one for less than 5K, the year ain't over yet ...

 

[Curt McNamee]

The pricing on the KISS units have mainly gone up because of the poor exchange rate between US and Canada. The US dollar value has dropped considerably in the last few months forcing Jetsam to raise their US Dollar pricing. Their Canadian net price is the same as it was before the increase.

 

[DiveTub]

Hi All
Gordon And Kim Smith from Jetsam where out in Australia last week after a Trip in PNG
They did a little roadshow in Sydney and Brisbane with the Sport Kiss,
Here are seom photos of the event.

http://homepage.mac.com/myprism/galleries/kiss/sportkiss.html

Cheers
Chris

 

[caveseeker7]

Hi Chris,

thoroughly enjoyed the pictures that you and Kerry put up.
Haven't had a chance to respond on your board yet.

As I've seen the Sport Kiss, I actually enjoyed it more to put faces to people's names. Whish someone had done it at SXD, too.

Cheers
Stefan